MORE than €31m worth of cocaine was seized in Courtmacsherry on Tuesday, and two men were arrested, but this is not the first time a half a tonne of drugs was landed in the seaside village, writes Jackie Keogh.
In June 1991, £7.5m of cannabis resin was seized by Customs when the RNLI towed a 40ft yacht, the Karma, to shore after the men on board reported an electrical fire and a broken rudder.
At 4am on Tuesday of this week, the driver of the van, a Scottish man in his 40s, and a German man in his 30s, were stopped and arrested by gardaí from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
The gardaí were part of Tuesday’s joint task force operation, which also included local gardaí, the Irish Naval Service, the Irish Air Corps, and Revenue Customs Service, who have since impounded the drugs. Two other men in a RIB, which is believed to have been used to ferry the cocaine from a mothership to Courtmacsherry’s Broadstrand, were tracked by the naval service and the Air Corps and later arrested.
Cannabis seizure in 1991 recalled
Although the detection is being hailed as another major success, Micheal Hurley, from Broadstrand, said: ‘This is not the first major shipment of drugs to land in Courtmacsherry.’
Micheal, who served as a member of the RNLI lifeboat crew for 46 years, and as its mechanic for 22 years, recalled the £7.5m landing in Courtmacsherry in 1991.
On July 23rd of that year, he said an electrical fire and a broken rudder led the crew on board the 40ft yacht, the Karma, to call the RNLI for assistance.
After being safely towed to shore, Micheal said customs took a keen interest in the vessel and discovered half a ton of cannabis resin in 25 individual bales on board the yacht.
‘The drugs had a street value of £7.5m, which was the biggest drug seizure ever recorded in the State at that time,’ he said.
The former lifeboat mechanic told The Southern Star that what he said in 1991, about the drugs haul being ‘the tip of the iceberg, still holds true because it is likely that countless other landings go undetected off the West Cork coast.
Despite the difference in the type of drugs seized, and the difference in the value of the drugs quoted in 1991 compared to 2025, Micheal noted that Tuesday’s haul was also a sizeable half a tonne of drugs that was destined for the UK market.
Some locals told The Southern Star they noticed unusual activity on Monday: When darkness fell, they observed ‘lights in the sky’ and, earlier, at twilight, they saw two men periwinkle picking in an area devoid of periwinkles. In hindsight, they surmised that they were either undercover cops or the culprits killing time.
Others noted a vessel steadfastly anchored in the bay, instead of using the moorings in the inner harbour.
But it seems there were no eyewitnesses present at 4am when officers from the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau swooped in and stopped the van.
All four men are currently being detained under Section 50 Criminal Justice Act 2007, and can be held for up to seven days.
A garda spokesman said that no further details are available at this time because it is part of ‘an ongoing operation.’
Senator Noel O’Donovan welcomed news of the massive drugs haul and praised gardai and other agencies.
